Atiku explains reasons for sacking staff on May day

The former Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar said his staff at Gotel were sacked as an outcome of long standing company restructuring.

Atiku’s Gotel on Friday sacked 46 of its staff on Friday, 1st of May that is a day for the celebration of the international labour day.

Atiku in a statement signed by, Gotel General Manager, Mohammed El Yakub, Friday explained that “the rationalisation of staff at Gotel Communications Limited, a company under the umbrella  of Priam Group, is a culmination of the restructuring process in the companies under our Group.

The general manager added that ” the founder of companies under the Priam had announced that many of his business concerns will be aggregated under the Priam Group.

The statement in part read “Priam Group had embarked on a restructuring exercise which led to a merger of many companies under its umbrella.

“Other components of the restructuring includes rationalization of workforce and thus some members of staff of the group would be laid off, with their full disengagement benefits paid to them.

“The press statement of December 24, 2019, stressed that owing to the restructuring exercise and merger of companies, some personnel may have to be disengaged.

”It is also not unexpected that a restructuring procedure of this size and nature would come with some likely job rationalisation especially, since each of these entities has its own finance, admin, marketing, HR and ancillary support operations which would now be consolidated and undertaken at the group level”, Paul Ibe, Media Adviser to the Founder and former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar had said in the statement unveiling the Priam Group.

“It should, however, be noted that the current decision to right size the workforce in Gotel Communications Limited is the climax of the on-going restructuring exercise which was  initiated last year.

“It will therefore be out of context to ascribe any mundane presupposition for being responsible for the decision to lay off some of the workforce in Gotel Communication Limited.

“Following the unveiling of Priam Group last year, Atiku Abubakar, ceased to be involved in the running of the affairs of his companies. The decisions taken so far, and especially as it relates to the rationalisation of staff, is solely a management decision.

“It needs to be restated that we shall, as a responsible organisation, discharge every obligation to the laid off staff and any other staff that may be involved in the rationalisation exercise of any of the companies under the Priam Group”.